Beyond the Books

A preview of the upcoming season of the Beyond the Books Podcast

Imagine working crazy long shifts in the Intensive Care Unit, running a city-wide network of health care professionals, hosting your own podcast on Solving Healthcare, all while being a father of three in the middle of the biggest pandemic in a century. We get to talk with Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng and ask him how he does it all while keeping spirits high. Life in the ICU, his plan to optimize health care, medical fact or fiction and more.

Ecology is the study of relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Freshwater ecosystems are one of the most important ones and Dr. Maggie Xenopoulos, professor at Trent University, joins Beyond the Books to discuss her research! We talk about DOM (dissolved organic matter), the process of metagenomics, her plans to fix societal environmental practices, some common misconceptions about bacteria, and much more!

Dark Matter is the most mysterious substance in the universe. Dark matter's gravitational effects explain the rotation of galaxies, the motions of clusters, and the largest structures in the universe. We talk with Dr. Aksel Hallin, Canada Research Chair in astroparticle physics, to learn what dark matter is, how neutrinos help its significance, his impression of the science on The Big Bang Theory, and more!

How do you predict the future? What grade would you give some bold new sensor ideas? What is one piece of advice you wish you had when starting undergrad? We talk with Dr. Jennifer Howcroft, professor at the University of Waterloo about her research with wearable sensors that can predict and prevent injuries and driving accidents, some of the coolest sensors she's worked with, and more, to answer these questions.

How is the COVID-19 vaccine being made? Who’s working on it? When will it be ready? These questions and more with Dr. Alyson Kelvin, researcher at the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology.

Black Holes are incredible! Dr. Niayesh Afshordi, an astrophysics researcher at the Perimeter Institute, joins Beyond the Books to give insight into one of the universe's biggest mysteries. We learn about quantum gravity, what's on the other side of a black hole, his thoughts on the portrayal of black holes in popular media, and more!

Dr. Maria DeRosa, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Carleton University joins Beyond the Books! We learn about what aptamers are, how aptamers are revolutionizing the field of biosensors, their awesome applications in nanomedicine, Dr. DeRosa's passion for inspiring passion and more!

Dr. Georg Northoff, Canada Research Chair in Mind, Brain Imaging, and Neuroethics, joins Beyond the Books! We discuss his work dealing with the brain, how the psychological response to COVID-19 in North America is different from the rest of the world, his thoughts on mental health apps, and more!

Join the Beyond the Books hosts as they talk with Dr. Steven Beyea, Scientific Director of the Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre at the IWK and QEII Health Centres, about his work using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to study the brains of COVID-19 patients, and how he got into research.